Los Llanos

Los Llanos are the flat grasslands filling the Orinoco basin between the Andes and the river, hundreds of thousands of square kilometres that flood in the wet season and dry out to cracked earth and shrinking pools in the dry one. That cycle concentrates animals into extraordinary densities: capybara, caiman, anaconda, giant anteater, and birds in numbers that make it one of the best places for wildlife on the continent. Working cattle ranches, hatos, take visitors.

What you actually see

• The dry-season concentrations - animals packed around shrinking pools from January to April.
• The capybara - the world's largest rodent, present in very large numbers.
• The birdlife - scarlet ibis, jabiru, herons and hundreds of other species.
• The llanero culture - the cattle-working tradition of the plains and its music.

When to go

December to April is the dry season and by far the best for wildlife, as animals concentrate at water. The wet season from May to November floods the plains and disperses everything. Heat is severe year round.

Honest expectations

Access is essentially through the hatos, which are booked as packages and are not cheap. Roads across the plains flood in the wet season. Mosquitoes and heat are constant.

Nearby

San Fernando de Apure is central, and the Orinoco runs south.